Why Effective Retail Inventory Management Is Key for Your Bottom Line

A retailer’s worst nightmare is probably a perpetually full stockroom or warehouse. While it’s a sign of good forecasting to have an ample supply of goods on hand to sell, it’s not advantageous if the excess sits around unsold for too long. Any products you fail to move simply take up space on the shelf—and represent a risky loss if you can’t unload them to customers.

Effective retail inventory management helps sellers understand buying cycles, stock the right products at the right times and minimize losses. And it’s key for your bottom line. Why? Because data drives the decision-making processes that drive revenue, plain and simple.

For example, with sales analytics, your team can understand historical buying patterns, analyze customer behavior over time and compare product performance. If anyone—from your merchandise planner to a retail associate, manager or buyer—has a question, all they have to do is enter a quick query using ThoughtSpot’s Relational Search Engine. The search-driven analytics tool will guide them as they formulate their query, and return clear results in seconds.

Want to keep tabs on where your company’s SKUs reside before they’re shipped? A simple, three-part query will uncover this information:

[Category] inventory (like clothing, electronics, books, etc.)

By warehouse

Time (November, 2016, etc.)

Furthermore, instead of a static retail sales report, the end user will receive a best-fit, interactive data visualization. With clear results on the screen, it’s easy to make timely decisions about inventory management. Users can also embed the tool itself, reports and entire dashboards into shared workflows for maximum visibility.

Or perhaps you’re seeking the best ecommerce solution for your online store. After all, you still have to figure out how to get products from point-A (the manufacturer) to point-B (the consumer). Data analytics can help you determine whether dropshipping is the most cost-effective option or if deviating from your current methods is a bad idea. No matter the specifics of your operations, retail inventory management is key.